#HTE

A Clever Mechanism Inside This Japanese Mechanical Pencil Keeps the Leads Sharp

Here’s another Japanese design that skirts the line between “Good gosh that’s clever” and “Do we really need this?”

By utilizing thin, perfectly-cylindrical leads, mechanical pencils obviate the need for sharpening. But if you were to zoom in on the tip, you’d see that even the narrowest lead can alternate between blunt and sharp as it wears down. And apparently there’s a market of really anal-retentive end users who require a razor-sharp point at all times. Hence Japanese writing utensil manufacturer Uni designed the Kuru Toga, a mechanical pencil that rotates the lead in place, always presenting the pointiest bit to the writing surface:

An internal rotating gear?!? How do they think this stuff up?

https://www.core77.com/posts/79135/A-Clever-Mechanism-Inside-This-Japanese-Mechanical-Pencil-Keeps-the-Leads-Sharp